Reviews (page 7 of 8)
Weird
A creepy concept album. The music is enjoyable. I would have enjoyed the album much more without the vocals. Not my thing. Won't listen again. From Wiki: "The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot of the album involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost into teenage girl Melody Nelson's bicycle, and the subsequent seduction and romance that ensues."
While some of the music was really cool, even Hendrix-esque, the whole thing didn't make too much sense too me overall.
1970s French pop is a thing, that's for sure.
had i known french, i would have probably enjoyed it more
The whole thing is french. 0RS
Sounds like this is going to be some more strange French whisper music.... what’s the point of this. Some cool stuff happening musically, but still when the Frenchman comes in and whispers into my ear it fills me with confusion.
I often like spoken word music. the music here is pretty decent but obviously I have no clue whats being said which is pretty key when there's no singing. The cover is pretty cool but its tough to be 100% sure of Melody's age. If we trust the french (and we definitely shouldn't) not to be singing about something dodgy, this is decent background music, and if I spoke french i'd probably get more out of this. So its the first one where its my fault i don't like it. 2/5 overall. 3/5 for the song where Melody just laughs throughout it.
This one passed me by a bit. Obviously it's in french so I don't understand the lyrics but every other word was the title of the album
A ratos más intenso, pero por lo general, tranquilo y reposado. Voz sugerente en francés
Definitely has a strong funk and rock vibe. The french...
I didn't understand much of the lyrics, but this was clearly an album about the love of a woman. I think. The constant twanging of the bass was excessive,.
I imagine at one point this was the height of cool for some. He speaks/sings! In French! He smokes while talking about women! A shirtless woman on the cover! Interesting as a point of reference but not much else for me, and I love 70s soft rock.
Can’t understand French
so, i actually liked the music. had a good grove, cool bass and string instruments. the angel harmonies on cargo cult were a plus. i didn't need the beat-poet french william shatner talking over a bunch of songs, and the en melody female noises were a bit over the top. almost 3.
Might be good but I can't understand it. Hate to give it a negative for that.
Very interesting, parts are jazzy or symphonic, lots of spoken word. Having trouble getting past the language barrier and the cool sexy vibe is ruined for me by the Lolita angle though.
Hahah vad e det här? Nån som viskar en försiktigt i örat på franska, mkt märkligt. Men musik är ändå ok, var helt ok att lyssna på 😅
No
This album occasionally peaked my interest with some good guitar and rhythm but then it would go completely mad and unlistenable.
fuck this and why does the fucking french not only accept this stuff but encourage it?
Gross
Why are we celebrating an album about statutory rape? Do better.
Sexy French man whispering in my ear made me feel a little dirty. Then I went to Wikipedia and found out why
Pedophile music, no thanks.
What in the world am I listening to lol?! After looking this album up…I feel a little uncomfortable with what he is singing about. If I were to separate the story from the actual musical sound, the arrangement of instruments and spoken word/French vocals sound really unique and interesting to hear. But….yeah, I can’t get into the intention here.
Slow talking over some down tempo beats that occasionally speed up for 10 seconds.
So after seeing the problematic album art, I read the equally problematic Wiki, and debated not listening as to not add to the streaming total. But I figured I'd at least listen to the first track. Nope, still just ick all over.
The instrumental element of this record is incredible, but a concept album about a middle aged bloke running over and then fucking a 14 year old girl is abhorrent.
Can't put aside that this is an album sexualizing a 14 year old.
I don’t think the music is that interesting or distinctive or impressive for a 1971 Pop-adjacent album, I don’t like Serge Gainsbourg’s voice at all (probably like Jane Birkin’s even less, especially when she’s being called in to scream and moan into the mic) and if I understood French, I’d probably like the concept and words even less too. Too long even at 28 minutes.
Ugh, what was that? Apparantly a story about pedophilia, musically accompanied by 70s soft-erotic music with half-spoken lyrics. Not for me.
So the music isn't bad. I was leaning towards a 2, maybe a 3. That being said, I can't in good conscience praise in any way a work that sensationalizes statutory rape, so into the ones it goes. Even without the subject matter I'd find it a hard sell to put into the 1001 albums I would need to hear before I die; it's more beat poetry than anything else and I'd honestly rather listen to Mike Myer's Whoah, Man from So I Married an Axe Murderer.
I REALLY hope this is not the only french language album on the list.
Even though I don't understand the vocals they are quite annoying and the music does very little for me. 1 star or F+.
You're kidding me with this, right?
For the music I would have rated this a 4 or 5, but the annoying laughing and sex noises would knock it to a 4 maybe 3. Finding out what it's actually about makes it a 1.
Well, that was weird.
Non. It's clearly a sonic poem, but since it's in French, it will be lost on a considerable chunk of music consumers, especially those looking for enlightenment or narrative engagement in their listening selections. Waste of time for most people, thus a wholly inappropriate inclusion on this list.
I don’t care if this is influential. It’s about pedophilia. It’s not “art” or “edgy” or “thought provoking.” It’s gross and creepy and predatory.
If this was an instrumental only album it would be a 4. Knowing what the story is about, kicks it right down to a 1.
This one is really unfortunate. If I hadnt read the description of what the album is about, I might have rated it a 3 or even a 4. But with that knowledge all the whispered lyrics, the woman laughing, just the whole thing becomes so creepy.
????? okay???? boring french mumbling.
This one is pretty bad. The theme of the 'concept album' is fairly horrifying and doesn't seem to have the kind of critique found in Lolita. The vocals are largely spoken with a little singing every now and then. They aren't particularly engaging to me. I can see why the music was influential and why it influenced groups like Air and Portishead, but frankly they take the ideas here and use them to better effect. Also, the more interesting moments are overwhelmed by the moments where the music pulls back to not particularly interesting repetitive background music for equally uninteresting spoken word monologues. There are really some deeply tedious moments on this album. Ultimately, the back up band is fairly talented, but is wasted. This album is 28 minutes long, but it frankly feels much longer.
Yuck
Another rapey album. I won’t even listen to this. Stop promoting albums about rape.
The music is fine but the abrupt loud GIGGLING plummeted my tolerance of this album. It was already on thin ice with the grating and excessive French muttering. Do people actually just sit and listen to this? It could work in a movie but as an album this suuuucks. Edit: oh my god I just read the Wikipedia page, I didn’t know it could get worse. The album is about a pedophile.
I liked the music well enough but the premise is no good. 1
Pas fin, immonde il est dégoutant et ses paroles le sont tout autant.
*15 Måske en provocateur - måske en kunstner. Måske bare endnu en fransk intellektuel/kulturelite-type der skal lade være med at være så vammel.
Føj
Not for me. 1/5
1/10 not my thing
I don’t speak French, but the Wikipedia descriptions indicated that this is a pedophile’s dream concept album. No thank you. I don’t care if it’s great musically, we need to shut this shit DOWN! And don’t give me your Lolita argument. At least Nabokov knew Hubert Humbert was a monster. Did not listen beyond the first 2 tracks (which played before I read the description), but I know enough to give this a single star. Glorifying rape deserves negative stars, but that is not an option.
When you call an album 'Lolita-esque', there's a fine line you have to walk on. You can certainly bring to light the shocking, dangerous, and horrifying aspect of pedophilia, as it is sadly a part of humanity's darker facets. But you can't glorify it. You can't be fascinated or enamored by it. Lolita is written in a way where you're grossed out and obviously have to treat the protagonist as an irredeemable piece of shit. While there are some lecherous guitar jams in here, there's a strange... romanticizing of the relationship between Melody and the Rolls Royce driver. So no. I don't think this is Lolita-esque. It's just creepy.
If only Serge would keep his mouth shut and let the music jam along... He talks some wrong musings over it that could have easily been lampshaded by making the main character the same age or something. But no. Make it explicit, why don't you. The guy was a menace.
Yeah this guys gotta go to Hell.
pretty weird stuff. Lounge singery stuff from a French guy. Some instrumental songs and some vocals. Common theme (from my wife) is that some of these might be ok if significantly shorter. Overall, hard to listen to and get through, just a 1 star rating
Really? Minus 47stars
If my friends asked me what I was listening to, how would they react when I told them "It's a French concept album about a guy who sleeps with a fourteen-year-old girl that he hit with his car?" The album is very pleasant sounding, but as is the risk with such an album, an awful concept can ruin the whole thing. The actual music itself is rather nice, but "En Melody" spoils any enjoyment of the album. "Cargo culte" at least acknowledges the eponymous cargo cults, which I think are interesting. But that's all this one has going for it.
Oof. I wish I didn’t know what this was about.
Thankfully I read reviews before pressing play. Did not listen due to heinous lyrics.
No one should be made to listen to this ever. What is wrong with people that they think this is ok?
Gross. Among the more cancelable records on this list. If you don’t speak French (and even if you do… maybe especially if you do) I’m not sure this should be required listening.
Let's write songs about fucking kids and call it art. Disgusting
Thanks, I hate it. So grossed out that I had to stop listening midway through track 2
Some cool loungey sleazy psychedelic stuff going on musically, but more than ruined by being a concept album about hitting a child with your car then fucking her. Guys just had these fantasies out loud in the 70s huh? Great representative of France here, the laid back, chilled out, black turtle neck wearing pedo rapist.
creepy
Did I miss something? Entirely unimpressed. 1/5
don't fucking piss me off
Oh dear. If this album, which tells the story of a rich, entitled, middle-aged man shagging an underage girl (an "illicit romance" as it's described in the Wikipedia article about the album) was a morality tale about, you know, NOT doing it because it's BAD, it might be acceptable. But reading about Serge and his Epsteinian/Trumpian predilection for sexual partners "on the younger side", I fear this was the "real" Serge singing about his real life. Automatic one star rating for paedos, however good or bad the music is (it's actually not terrible...). Shame on the compilers for including this in the list.
The whole album is very monotonous; it gets a little better in the second part but just a little.
Sick fucker zero stars
Ah. How creepy.
I think the only reason this album is considered art is because it’s in French and a lot of people don’t know what the guy is singing about. From that lens’s purely it sounds great, really sonically great even if half the album is a French sensually whisper singing in my ear. Then you read what this “concept album” is about. The singer hits a 14 year old with his car, falls in love with her, commits statutory rape then she dies in a plane crash. What the actual fuck. I would give this at least 3-4 stars as I said, the album sounds fantastic. But I can’t in good conscience give an album about pedophilia anything higher than a 1.
Fr*ench, and this album is regarding falling in love with a 14 or 16 y/o girl as a grown ass man. Nah bruh
What's with the weird fucking whispering. Thanks, I hate it.
meh
Never again
This gave me the ick. The one good use of this I can think of is a variation on the drinking game Thunderstruck, but you drink each time someone says the name Melody. It would be an effective pre-game. Not a fan
When to listen: While reading Lolita? Didn't really vibe with this and then read the translation / plot of this album and felt super icked out. Sorry Serge.
Hur jag än vänder och vrider luktar det unken kulturprofil i om Gainsbourg. Att sparka mot etablissemanget och utmana prydhet har jag inget emot, men gubbsjuka är ungefär lika coolt som att krama nazistpysslingar i liberalismens namn. Pardon my french, men om jag förstått rätt handlar alltså detta konceptalbum om hur berättaren (Serge 40+) krockar i sin Rolls med en 14-årig cyklist Melody, blir förälskad. Därefter båda planerar och genomför tagandet av hennes oskuld. Musikalisk finns här egentligen ett rätt skönt sound. Känns ganska Hendrixinspirerat. Hade kunnat bli nått bra om han hållit sig borta från den jävla pratsången. Och framförallt, ett album som tycker det är coolt att våldta en 14-åring kan naturligtvis aldrig gå nått annat än en etta oavsett hur det låter.
Look at the wiki summary
no album available, can't rate
não vou ouvir algo sobre pedofilia. 1 por fins de avaliação
The French age of consent is 15 and Gainsbourg draws on this to create a new Lolita. In today's language he 'grooms' Melody and hearing his lust play out over this LP is uncomfortable. So is the LP any good, musically it's a yes but his voice takes some getting used to. Unfortunately the subject matter should have consigned this LP to the dustbin of time. Saville would have loved Serge
realmente não consegui entender isso aqui estar na lista. eu até diria que a ideia de um concept album é interessante, mas certamente não é interessante no caso do que é apresentado ao longo deste álbum. não consigo visualizar a importância e nem o que o torna tão relevante assim considerando o que é cantado e descrito ao longo do álbum. 1/5.
Musicalmente falando é interessante e gostei de algumas coisas. Mas também nao achei fabuloso. Seria algo entre 2 e 3 estrelas. Daí eu vou olhar a motivação do album…
1 Star (2/15)
I'll be honest, I'm not listening to this. My patience for pedophiles is at all all time low (yes that's a real sentence I never thought I'd have to say). It's 2026 and we (the USA) have a pedophile for a president. And somehow that's OK with a large portion of the population. It's not OK with me. So I'm not going to stream this and fund this pedo. I'm going to give it 1 star and hope for something better tomorrow.
Oef, dit is een goed voorbeeld van; Je moet niet altijd de Wikipedia checken voordat je de muziek gaat luisteren... Een conceptalbum over een man van middelbare leeftijd die verliefd word op iemand van veertien, de muziek kan maar beter heel erg goed zijn als ik hier nog door heen wil. Muzikaal klinkt het best ok, de gitaar is strak en instrumentaal is het echt prima, wel heel jammer om een heel album lang een geile Fransman in je oor te hebben hijgen. Dat draagt niet echt bij aan het hele 'misschien is het niet als ophemeling van een foute zomerliefde bedoeld'. En Melody is waar hij me echt volledig kwijt raakt, een nummer met alleen maar uitroepen en lachende geluiden? En aan het einde treurt de ouwe viespeuk om het verlies van zn veertien jarige liefje. God, wat een fout album, dit is denk ik het eerste album waar ik me gewoon echt een beetje naar over voel als ik het luister, helemaal als je daarna nog leest dat het autobiografisch is... Toepasselijk dat dit mn 666e album is, het voelt ook daadwerkelijk alsof ik na dit te hebben geluisterd naar de hel ga. Ik wil het op basis van de muziek nog 2 sterren geven, maar twijfel sterk of ik er nog een ster afhaal voor het feit dat ik nu het liefste onder de douche stap. Staat er eindelijk eens een niet Engels talig album op, is het zoiets..
Best Song: NA In 2026, there is too little accountability of pedophilia and I refuse to listen to something that glorifies it. This could be the best album ever made, and I would never know because I'm not listening to it and giving clicks and/or listens to this artist. 1/5.
Art does not exist in a vacuum. I don’t think you can objectively evaluate the music without considering the story it tells. And the story here is reprehensible. This album tells the story of a middle aged man raping a child. It’s a stain on this site to include it.
You WUT mate?
Noping out of this one.
Naaaaa
No thanks.
First time listen Yeah okay whatever the production is good I guess. But it's really fuckin hard to remove this album from the pedophilic context of its subject matter and Serge's weird (putting it lightly) relationship with his daughter. I say this as someone who generally doesn't have any issue separating art from the artist, or enjoying art that tackles difficult subject matter - Serge Gainsbourg was a perverted freak who dabbled in pedophilia and incestuous overtones in his music, and I don't think his history of being a provocateur really makes this album easier to stomach. No lush production or orchestral crescendos can make my skin uncrawl from listening to the giggling of this fictitious 15 year old girl in the context of a sensual spoken word ballad. I don't deny its influence or even its artistic merit, but I find the subject and artist detestable in a way that refuses much appreciation for its positive aspects. Fav track: I don't know I don't care Least favorite: All of it 1/5
Not for me
Ignoring the lyrics - I don't understand them and feel that reading a translation can only make me like this less - this album's biggest problem is pacing. There's some interesting stuff happening musically that feels very ahead of its time. Free-form guitars that aren't playing any riffs dominate, and the bass is almost funky. But the songs are either too long and stagnant (the bookends) or too short, ending before they feel like they've offered anything. This is really more story than album, but the shifts at different events are subtle, much like the music. Only at the very end does it reach any kind of climax. The vocals are fine, the music is at least intriguing, but the slow, flat pace makes it go by without me enjoying it. And even if I don't understand the lyrics, the female vocals on "En Melody" are enough to make me feel uncomfortable.
Listening to spoken words in French is not enjoyable.
1/5
The music is phenomenal, but the subject matter gives it one
¡Vaya asco de señor y vaya mierda de disco! Me da igual la música o la influencia de este disco, es una puta vergüenza.
Groovy bass !! Very unique songs. Feels straight out of a french film. Fav song is ‘L’hôtel particulier’.
fumada en francés, bastante malo, los instrumentos son buenos, pero el cantante es un pelmazo 1/5 o menos
Never heard of this guy. Favorites: - Thoughts: Fuck this album. Made me quit this list for a week.
I don’t think this pedo album should be on the list.
If i could give this 0 I would. OK its kind of arty, probably best as an installation in a modern museum with flashing images, preferably nowhere near me.
Non. Non non non. Ceci est pas acceptable, je suis même pas désolé. Non non non.
Ignoring the lyrics and vocals, this would get a high score from me. The orchestral instrumentation is lush, giving an atmospheric tone and telling it's story. These are clearly astutely arranged songs. The drums also have a 90s trip-hop feel in places, giving the music a pleasing groove. The subject matter of the lyrics is troubling of course, though. Like why did she even have to be 15? He could've written this story without the paedophilic element. I read that Serge Gainsbourg is celebrated for his braveness to write provocative and controversial songs. Fine, but if the target of your provocation is people who think it's bad to rape a child, then I daresay that's not a good thing. It's not even a "separate the art from the artist" thing, where he's writing about a subject matter to shed light on it or to say it's a bad thing. Given he wanted to have sex with his daughter when she was 12, he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt here He gets 1* and can get in the bin
Fuck this stupid L’Oréal Paris advert sounding album
Don’t really understand why this is in the 1001 albums??
not the biggest fan
One word: Insupportable. There's no melody in melody and the vocals are a guy talking.
This is just a gross French dude talking over some bad 70s porn music. Apparantly it's about underage girls, too. Yuck.
No va
Great music in the background to a guy telling the story of being a nonce in French
It's not very good musically and the "concept" behind the album makes me question why this was ever made
Meh
My god. Awful.
Not My thing at all.
Meh
2/10 Favourite: Melody Least Favourite: En Melody
This could be the best album ever made, but I’ll never know because the subject revolts me and I refuse to validate it even in the tiniest way by downloading it. I am thankful that the 70’s are receding into the distance.
No. I love the sound of it but now I know the story and the lyrics and it dropped completely off. I can't get past the artist to the art. But also the art lyric- wise also sucks, so there's that.
I couldn’t handle this creepy shit. The subject matter is vile, and the dude spends most of his vocal time just fucking talking. Not too mention the moments where you hear Melody… nope, fuck this asshole, and the author for even including this 0 / 5
This was a weird album. I was going to make the comment this dude was obsessed with Melody. Good for him. Then I read who Melody is, for this album, and now I'm just weirded out period. What the hell man? Apparently, Trump has made pedophile acceptable. Well at least among Republicans and the MAGA group. Maybe he should invite this dude to play at the Kennedy Center. A packed house of PedoRepublicans for sure.
1 Aww, a meet-cute love story about a guy and a girl named Melody! Just like me and my Melody, how ado- OH. OH MY GOD. WTF IS THIS. Turns out, Serge be the kind of guy that would get along quite well with our president. As someone who subjected themself to a film class in college, this largely feels like a byproduct of the French New Wave movement, an era of creative expression that has never really clicked with me (though shoutout to La Jetée). Like, cinephiles hail Breathless as some kind of magnum opus of the genre, and yet it’s just 90 minutes of a dude trying to convince a girl to have sex with him. But boy oh boy, this makes that look like VeggieTales. Come on, what is this? Musically, it’s bland, performatively, it’s pretentious, and topically… if the first two points weren’t bad enough, the pedophilic storyline makes this 1000x worse. Every time I had to hear “Melody” whisper her name to the narrator (suspiciously based on the 42-year old Serge), I cringed. The instrumental moments towards the end were mildly enjoyable, but then once the provocative noises started, and I realized what the name of the penultimate track was… no. Just no. This is exactly the kind of thing I feel like people would point to to say, “Hey, great art is supposed to be shocking”, but I’m not buying it. Tell me it’s just like the old man in that book by Nabokov all you want; it doesn’t make it any better. I don’t like to think of myself as a judgmental person, but if I saw that you owned a copy of this album, I would probably raise an eyebrow. Musically enjoyable or not, I think you really have to ask yourself what inspires someone to write something like this - the cover is a half-naked child covering herself with a doll for crying out loud. Fortunately, the model was his real life—adult—partner, but I still find it weird she was talked into this. One of the biggest “wtf” albums on this list so far. I’m off to go clear my search history and take a shower.
Nao da nao
Vibes: 0/5 Instruments: 3/5 Production: 1/5 Emotional Value: 0/5 Storytelling: -1/5 AC: +0 Stand Outs: Ballade de Melody Nelson Overall Rating: 0.8
Couldn’t understand a word the guy said.
It's gonna be a big, fat NO from me dawg. A man talking seductively in French a little too close to the microphone about his lust for a 14 year old girl is not exactly what I'd call "enjoyable" to say the least. It is a shame because the music itself is quite ahead of its time, with many of the arrangements, particularly Cargo culte being very progressive. I suppose if they weren't there would be no reason for this album to be remembered. Some people can put the subject matter aside and just enjoy the music, and I applaud them for that; I suppose it's not much different from listening to Black Metal if you're not a pagan. I think the album is just far too sexual for me to be able to ignore what it's really about, which makes it nearly impossible to enjoy for me. Sure, it inspired a bunch of future musicians and was way ahead of it's time, I'll give it props for that. But will I say I like this album or listen to it ever again? Non.
Not for me.
Nice string arrangements cannot justify the absolutely repulsive concept of this record. Even the album cover is borderline CSAM. Anyone who enjoys this record should be placed on a watchlist honestly...
is this even an album
Moi, je n'aimais pas. It's a shame he wasn't singing about something else, because I quite liked the music.
There are some tinkly tunes in the background that are quite cute but everything else is deeply irritating.
Ah, a tender album about a middle-aged man and the teenage girl he seduces. I am sure that we are supposed to step back, take a drag off a cigarette, and approach this record with a sophisticated and continental worldview, seeing this as an album-length meditation about the fleeting nature of existence and the pain of lost youth. Only a narrow-minded cretin with outdated bourgeois morals would view this as being nothing more than a creepy set of songs about a sexual predator.
It’s another no for me, dog. Even if it’s conceptual statutory rape.
This Psychedelic Pop album drags you into a vintage cab gliding through dim Paris streets—lush, low-lit, and unsettlingly you don't understand the whispers of your captor but he keeps talking and you just want it to stop.
Not a fan. He fades his music way too much and what is with the Yoko Ono screaming that occurred? Definite example of a so so musician trying to be a hipster.
For once I can say that thank god it was in French so that I don’t have to actually understand this fuckers pedophillic rambling about how much he fancies this 15 year old. Think the story is enough to warrant a 1 star
Meh, '70's French pop rock didn't do it for me. Talking in a language over music doesn't work; in any language.
Sounds like a Frenchman with a dirty mustache bellied up to a microphone with a cigarette lit between his lips while wearing a tight striped shirt. One star
This album is about a middle aged man falling in love with a 15 year old 🤢
The music was nice. But everything else about the album made me feel gross. 1 star, say no to pedophelia
Geschmacklose Verharmlosung von pädophlilen Fantasien. Es wird einem schlecht beim zuhören.
Typical French music experience, I guess: Musician whispering ASMR pedo topics while your brain transforming into a baguette. It's nice instrumentally, btw. 1/5 ------------ No liked songs
Just creepy.
Four stars to the music for sure! -3 stars for the subject matter. Every time I went to check the translations I was reminded how gross it is. I might have let it slide if one track had been about a 15 year old girl, it was a different time, and he’s French. But the whole album? Too far.
Not for me, Jeff.
I thought the overt heterosexuality was bad but you're telling me this entire album is about statutory rape too?? Get this shit out of my face I swear to GOD
Had to drive a few hours today and midway through I turned this album on without knowing anything about it. By track two I'd figured out it was a concept album but, not speaking French and not being in a position to look it up, I had no idea what it was about. Turns out I was much better off not knowing. I still would've only rated this a 2 if I'd just listened and never researched it further.
An entire album about pedophilia and the rape of a minor? How did I get so lucky to hear this? I know it was a different time and it is unfair to hold people to today's standard of, you know, not committing statutory rape. Still, this is an entire album dedicated to sleeping with a minor. I can only imagine how this would fly in today's musical world. I'll judge this album on its merits. I am not prone to enjoying artists who speak instead of sing. Serge Gainsbourg does just that. I did not find the album to be that interesting and that doesn't even include the fact I couldn't understand what he was saying because I do not speak French. I'm sure he's super-important to the French but I did not enjoy this one at all. I can't fathom a time when I would put this on.
Was there some cool guitar in the first song? Sure. Were the strings and woodwinds cool throughout? Sure. But ultimately this is all about an old man lusting after a 14 year old and only talk about her in a sexual sleazy way. Its not that he is French and we don't understand...he seriously talks about taking her to a sleazy hotel that you have to sneak into in order to engage in sex that is wrong! Then the song En Melody...just gross, wrong, disgusting. Nope, nope, nope....the fact that people call this his opus and put this album on a pedestal makes it even more disturbing. Excuses like...oh but its beautiful, oh but its unique, oh but he's a genius, oh but but but. NO its WRONG, its inappropriate PERIOD. Let's stop normalizing or making excuses for something that is wrong. He could have written the same exact songs and album and made the women 19. He choose to make her 14, to capitalize on and attempt to normalize pedophile. WRONG PERIOD
I like the music. Too bad. Maybe next time you have a jam session, don't let yer pervy French friend talk about bad touching little kids the whole time.
My god, that was extraordinarily BORING. His right-in-your-ear style of speak singing only greatly pissed me off. It’s annoying in the way that when you’re trying to sleep, you get some asshole coming in close to you thinking they’re the most important person in the world trying to wake you up for their own selfish purposes, but manipulatively disguises it as being a sexy come-on. Only in the final song did the instrumentation get even remotely interesting. I expected way more from this considering that I’ve seen his name being glowed over throughout the years. Thank god it was under 30 minutes. Very very hard pass.
I don’t know how I would feel about this album if it wasn’t romanticizing pedophilia, but it is, so fuck that. And fuck all the critics and artists who didn’t criticize it for that. I can’t believe the amount of accolades this album has received. So disturbing.
Crap
fucking gross dude, 0/5. i hate French people.
Hätte musikalisch Potenzial, bleibt aber langweilig mit seltsamen Sprechgesang. Und es ist zuemlich verstörend, wenn man versteht, um was es geht.
💀💀💀
I hate whisper singing. Nope. Too much lip smacking. Even if I could understand what they were saying, I would hate this album.
I don’t get why this is on the list. Not a fan.
Too much whispering
France has produced many great things. This is not one of them .
Wee
Really hated this. Musically it wasn't my thing in the slightest, but the factors that made this a giant pile of shit were the vocal performance/lyrical content. A concept album about a pedophile and a vocal performance that was quite literally the sonic equivalent to getting molested by an ugly as fuck french freak. There were a couple of interesting moments musically, but not nearly enough to soften my opinion on it. Garbage.
Whisper me to sleep. 😂 who picks these albums?
Serious, who is this for? I was going to be a little generous, because there are some enjoyable musical elements within the record, but the subject matter is too icky to ignore. “Best” Track: Melody
I only knew Gainsbourg from "je t'aime". I enjoyed the music. But the subject matter? Ick. No.
Nique ta mère Gainsbourg
Not shy of interesting ideas, apparently very influential. Maybe I missed the point but with respect to the great people of France this album is horseshit
pff, sorry, maar ik versta de lovende commentaren niet... vervelend van eerste tot laatste noot
spotify didn’t allow me to play any of the album 💔
well, the whole album is about a perv so yk can’t really say too much about the lyrics, literally no rhythmic aspect to it at all, it’s a VERY french sound which yeah ik their french but it sounds like the shit their into which isn’t a good thing. didn’t have a favourite song and stopped listening after disc one, no i’m not biased coz i hate the french i just hated this
Too weird to me.
j'ai detesté, c'est soit hyper mou, soit énervant
Q ASCOOO, tiene muy buen sonido pero la letra, la PORTADA y todo la historia detras, diossss. no se si estoy tan de acuerdo con separar el arte del artista y este album lo demuestra, tiene increibles sonido, super experimental PERO EL DETRAS ES HORRIBLE NO ENTIENDO COMO ESTA EN SPOTIFY, DA ASCO EL PORQUE LA COMPUSO SOLO CON VER LA PORTADA YA ES HORRIBLE.
If you are going to make albums about having sex with 15 year olds, you need to avoid being sleazy. This gains miserably
boring and creepy music for french pedophiles. HARD pass. favorites: i guess valse de melody if i have to pick one
rigghhhht so we're including albums about pedophilia and rape now are we?
Really don't understand why I needed to hear the same musical theme played for an hour.
Pedo vibes
Garbage…
Dirge, not Serge
I don’t speak French so I looked it up. Fuck this asshole.
The subject matter combined with the guy's voice creeped me out so much that I couldn't even get through the first song.
Its narrative follows an illicit romance which develops between the middle-aged narrator and fourteen-year-old girl Melody Nelson, portrayed on the album and its cover art by Gainsbourg's then-partner Jane Birkin. what the actual fuck is this doing on the list!
shit.
Just looking at the cover/track titles I knew I wouldn’t like this I genuinely can’t do this anymore, 3 1s in a row!
CREEPY ASS ALBUM AND FOR WHAT 🤮
Light funk. He talk- sings the whole thing. If you heard one track that’s enough they are all the same. No need to ever listen again.
Orchestra was boring, dude doesnt even sing, and also *gag*
Personally do not enjoy hearing some crusty 40-something art guy whisper about pedophilia, I feel like I am forced to see relationships like this daily and don't need to absorb it more often than that. Has the air of trying desperately to be supremely cool but I just find it utterly distasteful to listen to, but hey that's just me Fav song: En Melody
One star for the style. Subtracting four for pedophilia.
Since this started off in French, I decided to look up what this album might be about since I wasn't going to understand anything and it definitely ruined the vibe when you find out that: "Its Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical narrative follows the illicit romance that develops between the middle-aged Gainsbourg and 15-year old girl Melody Nelson." OOF... Kept listening until you get to En Melody and well...yeesh. Without context, this might've been like a low 3 maybe. But I got no problem throwing this down to 1 status after knowing the creepiness of this album's premise.
Get out of my ear, Frenchie!
Bollocks
Samn, I really enjoyed this album, why did I have to read a little more about it. A concept album of a guy falling in love and documenting that journey, and it's inevitable end as she dies, is fine. But 14? Wtf, why? Without that detail this is a borderline masterpiece, and instead I feel dirty having liked it.
Nope
2.5 for the music. As an instrumental, it wouldn't be bad in the background. 1 for the creepy guy whispering French words I don't understand in my ear. Seriously, don't listen to this with headphones (or at all). -1 for the explanation of the French I got from Wikipedia.
Quite annoying french music
what the actual fuck. if i could give it 0 stars i would. creepy, weird and boring
Lift music. Just nothing more than that. Over rated Muzak.
Apparently this album is about a pedophilic relationship between a middle aged man and a 14 year old girl. I didn't understand a word on the album so I'll have to take Wikipedias word for it and if that is indeed the case I have serious questions as to why this album is included on the list. Anyway, 1 star. Would give 0 stars if I could.
The underlying music is great. The subject matter in the lyrics is not. 1 star.
Wtf Robert Dimnery....a gross French album about pedophilia?? Why?? Before I even understood what this album's theme was (a man falls in love with a 14 year old girl named Melody, and proceeds to seduce her), it gave me an uneasy feeling. The music is fine, but Serge whispers in your ear, and it's just gross. I feel like he is trying to bang me. Fuck off Serge. This prick should be on an FBI watch list... Favorite songs: Ballade de Melody Nelson Least favorite songs: En Melody 1/5
Absolute French art school nonsense
Wiki: "The narrator falls instantly in love with Melody, who is revealed to be only fourteen years old ("Ballade de Melody Nelson"), but who nevertheless makes the narrator happier than he could have ever imagined ("Valse de Melody"). He plans to take her virginity, knowing she has never been in love before ("Ah ! Melody"), and they travel to a secret hotel where they have sex ("L’Hôtel particulier")." WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?!
not it
Even separating the album from the subject matter, this is still horribly creepy. Serge’s perv whispering, and Jane Birkin’s nubile gasping really made this the most uncomfortable listen so far. The music on the album is far and away the best thing about it, and even it’s not that great. It’s pseudo jazz tinkerings, and menancing guitar chords hovering on the sidelines. Serge whispering and performing fellatio on the mic ruins what could be vaguely listenable. I found the whole thing nightmarish, and nearly gave up with it. Thankfully the album is short and my unease was over with a half hour. I fail to see why this should be on the list, and I definitely won’t be listening again.
Creepy as expected
... just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him...
Had I not read about this album before beginning to listen to it, I would not have known he made an album with us girlfriend about the time he had an affair with a 14 year old. I still wouldn’t have liked it, but might have made it through more than 30 seconds of the first three songs without my skin crawling. Not only shouldn’t this album be celebrated, no one should ever listen to it.
There is absolutely no way I'm listening to this after reading the wikipedia page what on earth 1/5
Unfortunately I actually kind of like this but I also felt a bit queasy while listening to it. Can't, in good conscience, give this ode to pedophilia more than 1 star.
No thank you. Not only is it about a pedophile, but it sounds like he has the mic in his mouth, giving it a feeling of ASMR. I hate ASMR.
This made me le miserable.
прикол какой-то )) томный недоджаз про лолитку
Bleh
Decent instrumental track interrupted by bad French ASMR?
Not my taste
Just no. I'm all about french music....but no...
Yeah? Well we invented the missionary position... You're welcome.
This album is about what now
Albums like this that nix another great album from being on the list are really maddening to me.
I didn't enjoy this at all. Don't get it. The music is melodic enough, but his speaking/singing is not appealing.
Nope, I won't do that! No Reviews.
3/5 out of context 1/5 based on context Halfway through this album I was extremely confused as to why this album was rated so low. Music is solid, got a vibe to it, was enjoying it but not something I'd necessarily go back to. But looking up the context, yeah. Lyrics about grooming an underage girl. Fun. There's separating the art and the artist, and then there's the artist just straight up writing these lyrics. Maybe I'm missing context due to the language barrier, but my short time looking up the album doesn't seem to paint the plot of the album in negative light or some sort of cautionary tale, it's just straight up cool with it. I guess the album was vaguely based on his relationship with Jane Birken (who was thankfully 22 at the time of meeting him, but still side eyeing that relationship with him being close to 20 years her senior), but still. Hard to not feel uncomfortable listening to this album. I guess it influenced Portishead, so at least it did some good in having a part in making one of my all time favorite albums, Dummy?
Well, like Huey Lewis sang back in the 80s…sometimes bad is bad. First of all, I generally don’t like records that rely on the spoken word in lieu of singing…but when this guy did sing, it was worse. I might’ve enjoyed this somewhat if it was an instrumental record. But when you add the subject matter that basically glorifies statutory rape, this album becomes a one at best, and that’s being generous. There are two good things about this record: 1.) Since it’s in French, I couldn’t understand the lyrics and 2.) At 28 minutes, it was mercifully short. If I would’ve died yesterday, I think that somehow I would not have been poorer for not having heard this album. I must ask, what’s it doing on the list?
This felt like french asmr with some music behind it. I didn’t like this
Wtf. This sucked. Another major dud
What a triumph. An album that made me feel so gross I had to stop listening. Marvel at the experience of being in some French pervert’s tonsils. Be upset as you remember your French numbers and hear quinze and yep, this is just straight up an album about being a pedo. I like to imagine the brain trust that came up with this list sitting around asking what to put on the list. “We can’t put another shitty 90s British album on here” and some guy in the back goes, “Zut alors! How could we forget the French pedophile album!” And the room claps because this counts as one of the 1% of international albums.
Yeah, no, I can't be bothered with that (and I listen to albums made by shitheads a lot).
This is nasty.
If you want a French guy whispering shit in your ear, you'll like this album. I hate that so this is one of the worst things I've ever listened to.
Here was my train of thoughts and how they played out through this listen: French is not a beautiful language at all, this sounds like Pepé Le Pew with instruments, am I missing something here, the cover art is totally weird, do I need to understand the lyrics to like this because I don't to either. That prompted me to dig further and I'm 100% sorry I did: This album is about an older man crashing his Rolls Royce into a 14 year old girl on her bike who he then promptly seduces and takes advantage of. Right after that she dies in a plane crash. I can't think of anything that could ever redeem this and I regret even giving it one more play on Spotify. Apparently this is also pseudo-autobiographical so just so cringey. Rating only the music, I guess a 0.5 for the funk-style electric guitar over orchestra backing. Avoid all further reading into how this influenced Beck on Paper Tiger and inspired Portishead.
French creeper seducing a child...WTF? I was going to look up the lyrics translation but pulled back after reading the subject matter. I get that music knows no bounds but when artists start dabbling in pedophilia and don't immediately condemn it, red flag. Gainesbourg looks like he would find himself in this very situation and it bothers me that he has beautiful women all over him on his album covers. This Chief Didier rat drools all over Melody and if he wasn't a famous "artiste" he would be a probably be an aqualung hanging around middle schools eyeing little girls with bad intent. Drop the lyrical content (particularly the cringeworthy kid giggles? on "En Melody") and you have some good background...can I get the instrumental version? I can't believe I have found something from the list that is steering me to Beyoncé but for the string and drum play...0.75 etoiles de merde.
Boring!
0/10. Nuh uh😔. Haven’t use this in a while and first album made me wanna die☝🏼😬🕊️.
Sounds as if it was created by a Belgian child abuser.
I'm sorry what?
its so quiet that i mostly cant hear shit. 1/5
For most albums and new music genres I’m introduced to, I can usually find something I liked. This was not the case. In fact, it was so bad I noticed that there was a new editing feature on this website and almost a year later am now changing my rating from a 2 to a 1. Nothing in this album made me enjoy it nor at the very least appreciate it.
C'est merde. Incredibly French, and trying embarrassingly hard to be cool and sexy. Maybe groundbreaking and interesting in it's time?
Nopers. Mostly spoken word and the music isn't really even intriguing.
Ok!
Histoire De Melody Nelson isn't good, he mumbles into the mic in an attempt to be seductive but a) he's often unintelliglble even if you speak some French and b) don't look up the theme or content of this record if you don't want to be creeped out. A few tidy basslines and some nice guitar work doesn't mask an album that is mostly a bunch of stuff you'd heard a snippet of in a fragrance ad and that only finds a saving grace in how short it is. Struggling to find reasons not to give it 1/5.
This shit is ass
Didn't enjoy this one much, very strange time
The track that is just riffs with someone laughing over the top is annoying as fuck. Why on earth would you do that
I can’t ignore the creepy old man vibes.
Why?
Didn't listen cause child rape
I like the mic of genre and all the different elements that where mixed. He didn't stick himself to one genre and was riding through it all... But Since this woman on the cover should represent a 14 year old girl that's involved sexually in the storytelling of this album i really don't like it in any fashion. Its art and just a story in this case, but its sooo weird to think about it. Sex Noises and sexually intended moaning on music are always negative points in my books.
The music was actually somewhat interesting (especially the first 2 songs), but the lyrical content is beyond fucked. So French.
I couldn't stand this for the most part. The intermittent ramblings in French distracted me from any instrumentation I may have liked otherwise
what even is this
Am I allowed to say that I liked this album ... ? Pepe Le Pew / Jeffrey Epstein meets Beck and Stereolab...? One so vile and evil that should be relegated to the outskirts of music, while the others bring creativity, beauty and unique artistry that should be celebrated. I could claim ignorance ... I mean, this is all in French and besides, this was way back in the 1970s ... and, and things were different back then right? I mean it's so, so good but all so terribly wrong ...
If I didn’t read the backstory, I’d be oblivious to the words of the sultry French spoken word. But since I know that it’s a concept album about taking advantage of a teenager, it’s all creepy.
one of my exes was obsessed with gainsbourg and that was only one of his many red flags. I get ptsd whenever i hear gainsbourg's voice. Fuck that guy. it's a 0 stars btw
Listened Before? N French. Concept Album. Must hear before I die? Lol. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Ballade... whatever.
Ew, ew ew ew nope. First album on the list I couldn’t get through, even without the…. context… I don’t want two French people whispering in my ears rock plays in the background. Ew. Maybe it belongs on the list. I dunno, ask the French. It doesn’t belong on my list, that’s for sure.
Nonce.
God the plot of this is so fucking French. Since its a spoken word piece more than an album, its hard to rate. I personally enjoy French language but the story being about some asshole hitting a 14 year old with his car, taking her to bed, and her dying in a plane accident is just.......weird and gross. its one saving grace is that it's fiction?
This made me feel unsettling. I didn't like it.
Nonce rock. I'm happy to separate art from artist but when the art itself is a celebration of noncery, it's not for me Clive
What the fuck
Pretty boring. I have an open mind for European music but this wasn't in my q zone.
Instrumentally it's alright. I don't appreciate the spoken word and I'm uncomfortable dispite not understanding French.
No. And please, don’t do that again.
weird and dull
Crappatony
Not my vibe
No thanks on the Lolita-esque, proto-ASMR concept album. First I thought I didn’t like it only because it was in French and I didn’t understand it. Then I read what it was about and I was sure I didn’t like it. 1⭐️
This is weird, boring and pretentious. Not for me
C'est merde
it has a cool album art
1. melody - 1.5 2. nelzon - 1.5 3. valze - 1 4. melody 2 - 1 5. l'hotel - 1.5 6. melody 3 - 1 7. cargo - 1.5
Liian taiteellista omaan makuun.
Hated it
No likey.
He gets one star. And only because the backing music can be good. His voice is fucking gross. It is so gad damn wet sounding. Get the mic out of your mouth and swallow some spit before singing.
Wow, I don’t speak French, but this album sure sounds horny! *reads other reviews* oh… Wow En Melody might be the best song on this album! *gets to 1:30 mark* OH… The music on this is genuinely great. It creates an atmosphere of great storytelling. Unfortunately, I have a bit of misophonia, and the Gainsbourg’s cotton mouth made this an insufferable listen.
Weird Nelson. Can’t sing, can’t play. Stick to crime, Baby Face!
I was digging the music quite a bit and flipped over to find out what the words were about. This went from a 4 or 5 to a 1 instantly.
Wow I hated this so much
Wow, it's crazy because I was going to give this song a 2 simply because I don't speak French. I thought, as a big fan of experimental music/the use of sound, maybe it could pull up to a 3. Turns out it's just a pedophilic anthem about a man hitting a 14 year old with his car, taking her virginity, and then sending her on a plane that crashes (she dies). Aw, my first one star! 1 Album I Wish I Hadn't Heard Before I Died.
Grim.
pedo music wtf?
Got halfway through before looking up a translation. Hard to vote an album very high when it's about banging a 14 year. Oh then she dies. The french are wild for this one
will say i peeked at your guys rankings and stopped after the first song…
Le pédophile raciste
Made it through the first song
Looks creepy. Sounds creepy. Is creepy.
Incredibly uncomfortable listen. Not bad musically per se, but not to my taste, before we even get to the narrative that defines this concept album.
What
This is another one where I wonder if I had the book, would it explain to me why this album is here? But more importantly, would that make it make sense? Would I find it believable? Feels like no.